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Bama hosts Mizzou as former top-10 teams fight for playoff lives

AP photo by L.G. Patterson / Missouri quarterback Brady Cook, left, spins away from Auburn linebacker Austin Keys during the second half of last Saturday's SEC matchup in Columbia, Mo.
AP photo by L.G. Patterson / Missouri quarterback Brady Cook, left, spins away from Auburn linebacker Austin Keys during the second half of last Saturday's SEC matchup in Columbia, Mo. AP photo by L.G. Patterson / Missouri quarterback Brady Cook, left, spins away from Auburn linebacker Austin Keys during the second half of last Saturday's SEC matchup in Columbia, Mo.

By JOHN ZENOR / The Associated Press 4 min read

Those top-10 rankings have fallen by the wayside for Alabama and Missouri.

Still clinging to presently precarious hopes of reaching the 12-team College Football Playoff, the 15th-ranked Crimson Tide will welcome No. 21 Missouri to Tuscaloosa on Saturday for what amounts to an elimination game between Southeastern Conference teams.

“The sense of urgency is definitely up now,” Alabama defensive lineman Jah-Marien Latham said, “knowing that the chances of getting to the playoffs are slimmer than they were early in the season.”

Alabama (5-2, 2-2 SEC) started the season ranked fifth and spent a week at No. 1 after beating No. 2 Georgia last month. Then came losses at Vanderbilt and Tennessee over the past three games, with an ugly 27-25 win over South Carolina in between. Tennessee was ranked 11th at the time but moved up four spots in this week’s AP Top 25, taking Alabama’s former place in the poll.

Missouri (6-1, 2-1) can certainly relate after edging struggling Auburn 21-17 last weekend. Missouri was ranked seventh to open the season but fell 41-10 to now-No. 14 Texas A&M in the team’s first SEC road game of the year. Now comes the second.